Dolphin Research: Summaries

seeing through sound

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awareness of one's own body parts

behavioral mimicry

dolphin research publications

Whale Research: Summaries

background of whale research

alaskan humpbacks

hawaiians and humpbacks

mating and reproduction

migration and habitat use

role of size

social behavior on winter grounds

whale song

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Marine Mammal Science, Vol. 16, No. 3, 2000, 664-676

Measuring sizes of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) by underwater videogrammetry (2000)

Scott S.Spitz and Louis M.Herman,
Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory and Department of Psychology, University of Hawai'i.
Adam A.Pack,
Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory, and The Dolphin Institute.

(C) 2000 by the Society for Marine Mammology

Measurements of body sizes of living humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) can aid significantly in the understanding of important aspects of their biology and behavior, such as age-related demographics of the population, social organization, reproductive behaviors and strategies, and calf growth rates. We report here on a new inexpensive technique we call underwater videogrammetry for measuring sizes of whales that, at the same time, offers opportunities for gathering data on individual identification, behavior, social role, and sex. We demonstrate the accuracy and reliability of the technique by measuring objects of known size. We also provide size data on female humpback whales ("mothers") accompanied by their calf, and on male whales acting as single escorts to mother-calf pairs (Herman and Antinoja 1977). We obtained both data sets during the annual winter assembly of humpback whales in Hawaiian waters.
 
 
Spitz, S.S., Herman, L.M., & Pack, A.A. (2000). Measuring sizes of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) by underwater videogrammetry. Marine Mammal Science, 16, 664-676.
 

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